I feel that if more authors know how effective blogging and social media engagement can be in building an audience, they would make it a higher priority.

Believe me, I get that none of us has enough time in a day. I wear a lot of hats professionally and personally, and it’s a lot to juggle. But I’ve also seen firsthand how social media and blogging has impacted my career. Collectively my blog, books, and social media presence have brought me new clients, corporate spokesperson opportunities, media interviews, a column that I write for the Forbes blog, and much more.

I can’t tell you that you’ll see results overnight from these efforts. It takes time to build an audience and begin generating a lot of website traffic. But if you commit to consistent effort, update your blog several times each week, and engage in social media, over time you can begin to see some pretty fantastic results.

Also, blogging and social media don’t necessarily require a huge time commitment. I spend less than 30 minutes per day managing my social networks. If you can carve out a couple of hours per week to develop blog content, pre-schedule it to publish, and plug in the pre-schedule sharing details on your social networks, all you will really need to do the rest of the week is monitor activity and engage with your growing audience!

After accomplishing these steps, you may realize that you’re wasting time in other areas that could be re-prioritized. Are those business networking events and coffee dates really worth your time? Are they bringing in new business? Are you doing administrative work that you could outsource elsewhere? Could you skip your evening TV shows and spend a couple of hours writing blog posts instead? Try it for 30 days. I bet you’ll be glad you did!

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